Saturday, 11 July 2015

It is with slight trepidation and a mix of sadness and
excitement that I wish to let you know that I have decided to finish blogging.
I started this blog in my first year of uni, nearly 9 years ago (scary). At the
time there were only a handful of food blogs around and when you mentioned to
someone that you wrote a blog they looked at you blankly. It was new, exciting,
secretive and a bizarre thought to think that something I wrote could be viewed
by people all over the world. The world of social media and blogs had not yet
fully taken off and it felt like I was joining a secret society. I never
expected my little blog to have continued for as long as it has.

At the time it was something to keep me occupied between
classes and gave me a reason for trying new recipes. However, I soon fell in
love with it and it became part of my life. I became one of those people who
spent hours reading blogs, browsing recipes, going on shopping trips specifically
to find new spoons or coloured backgrounds for taking shots of food. I’d make a
cake and not let anyone near it until I’d photographed it, often much to my family’s
annoyance.

As time has gone on, my life has changed. I’ve graduated
from uni, had 3 different jobs and lived in 3 different locations. Around the
middle I was also diagnosed coeliac which at the time threatened to be the end
of the blog and my love of baking. How can someone who loves cakes and baking
so much suddenly be told they are not allowed to eat those things any more?!
Yet it was actually blogging that got me through it. After a few weeks of
crying whenever I walked near the bakery section in the supermarkets, it was experimenting
with new recipes, sharing both my successes and failures and reading and
learning about other gluten free ingredients and gluten free recipes/bloggers
that provided me a whole new exciting food challenge and one I shall be forever
grateful for.

I still love blogging and I will certainly never stop baking,
but I have found over the past few months it has felt more and more like a
chore than a hobby. After Christmas I started a new job which involves long
hours, split shifts and working weekends. I am starting to create a new life in
London and find
I have less and less time for blogging. Rather than let it slowly peter out,
until one day I simply never post again, I have decided to finish with a clean
cut. There are now so many fabulous blogs out there that people have so much
more to choose from that in order to be successful you really have to work at
your blog, and I want to bake for enjoyment, rather than worry about whether
the light is right for photos, or not making the same thing twice etc

I’ve had some amazing experiences, met some wonderful people,
baked some delicious food and learnt so much about different cultures,
ingredients and cuisines. Thank you all for reading over the years and
providing such wonderful inspiration. I’ll keep reading and commenting, but for
Apple & Spice it’s time to wish you all a fond farewell. Happy Baking! J

Roasted Almond & Fresh Cherry Cake

I wanted to end with a delicious cake. For me, it’s always
been about the cake! This cake is a cross between a cake and the filling of a frangipane
tart. It’s dense, moist and nutty as ground almonds make up most of the dry
ingredients called for in the recipe. Very little flour is required meaning it
was very easy to convert to being gluten free. It also only uses egg whites,
rather than whole eggs which lends it a wonderfully light but slightly sticky
texture.

The original recipe is from Rachel Allen and she uses pears
and describes the recipe a pastryless tart rather than a cake. You can see a
video of her making it here.

I adore the flavours of cherry and almonds together and as
fresh English cherries are at their peak at the moment, (I even picked my own!)
I decided to showcase these. I also roasted and ground my own ground almonds,
which gave the cake a wonderful nutty, deeper almond flavour than using the pre-ground
almonds. I also left the skin on mine which gave the cake a slightly darker
speckled appearance, compared to Rachel’s pale golden affair, but I like this
rustic look and it certainly enhanced the almond flavour.

The fresh glossy red cherries looked so pretty dotted into
the cake and when cut into, they provided little pools of ruby juice against
the golden cake. Eating a ripe, freshly picked, still warm cherry is also a
wonderous thing. Really sweet and juicy with a great cherry flavour. So
delicious when paired with the nutty almonds.

Roasted Almond & Fresh Cherry Cake

(Recipe adapted from Rachel Allen)

Ingredients

60g skin on almonds (or ground almonds)

90g butter, melted

90g icing sugar

30g buckwheat flour

3 egg whites

2 tsp lemon juice

Large handful of fresh cherries

20g flaked almonds

Method

Heat the oven to 200C. Line the base of a 6inch cake or tart
tin with greaseproof paper and grease the sides.

Place the skin on almonds on a baking tray and roast them in
the oven for 6-8 minutes until smelling lightly toasted. Leave to cool before
blitzing in a small food processor to create ground almonds. It don’t need to
be as fine as flour.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly.

Sieve the icing sugar and buckwheat flour into a clean bowl
and stir in the ground almonds.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites for 30 seconds, until
just frothy. They don’t need to be peaky, just slightly aerated.

Add the whisked egg whites, melted butter and lemon juice to
the dry ingredients and mix together with a spatula until combined and smooth.

Pour into the tart/cake tin and dot the top with the fresh
cherries (you can de-stone them first, but I didn’t bother). Scatter over a few
flaked almonds.

Bake in the oven at 200C for 12 minutes, before reducing the
heat to 180C and baking for a further 12-15 minutes. It should be ever so
slightly golden in colour, with a shiny, slightly sticky surface.

Allow the cake to cool in the tin to room temperature before
serving. Warn your guests to look out for cherry stones if you’ve left them in!

Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Makes 1 x 6inch cake

Note: I’ve also made this cake with fresh plums,
blueberries and nectarines

Sunday, 28 June 2015

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday (3rd-5th
July) is the Allergy & Free From show in London. A fantastic 3 day event that is the
gluten free highlight of my year! I always look forward to it. There is
something so unique and special about being able to attend a food show – and a
massive one at that – walking into the room, seeing rows upon rows of delicious
food, inhaling the aromas of freshly baking pizzas and simmering pots of
curries and knowing you can EAT IT ALL!!! It’s a truly wonderful feeling and one
that unless you’ve ever had to follow a restricted diet, I don’t think you can
truly appreciate what a rare and extraordinary experience this is.

I always get ridiculously over excited and eat far too many samples,
but have the most wonderful day. I always used to love going to food shows, but
when I was diagnosed coeliac I had to stop attending as being faced with so
much gourmet food I could no longer eat made me depressed. Not the case with
the Allergy and Free From Show!!

You get to see and sample all the best gluten free foods
available on the market, learn about new products, any newly launched companies
and buy foods from small independent producers who aren’t readily available in
the shops. It’s a gluten free delight! My advice is take a big rucksack with you and
be prepared for crowds. Last year they had 29,652 visitors over the 3 days… yes
29,000.

(Other allergies also catered for too and I should mention
that there is the occasional stall that is dairy free/egg free but not gluten
free. However, I should think 98% of the food on offer is gluten free)

It’s held in London Olympia – the big event theatre and it’s
absolutely packed with stalls as far as the eye can see. You want to know the
best part – they give most of the ticket away for free! Click here to get some yourself and learn more about the event.

Who’s excited?! – Me, me me!

GF Food Fair

One of my friends from Bedford
also wanted me to let you know about the Home Counties Gluten Free Food Fair
that is happening on Saturday 5th of September in Biggleswade. Mark
it in your diary. It’s obviously on a smaller scale than the Olympia one, but some of the top brands
attend along with some local businesses. A great event if you are in the area
and all gluten free!

Monday, 15 June 2015

I love loaf cakes. There is something so enjoyable about
their humble appearance, only to slice into them and reveal hidden chocolate
chips, fruits, nuts, spices or speckles of banana.

These days I’ve noticed I often enjoy them more than
cupcakes piled high with sweet icings. They are the kind of cake that fulfills
that morning or afternoon treat-time craving without the guilt or immediate
sugar rush/crash. Plus you get to cut as little or much as you like – there is
no set amount as what equates to ‘a slice’

I often have a pot of yogurt in the fridge, but it’s usually
the plain and unsweetened variety. However, there are exceptions to the rule.
Last week when I was shopping I spied a large pot of sweetened vanilla yoghurt
reduced to only 20p – that was too big a bargain to pass up and I snaffled it
quickly. I ate a little with fruit, but as I’m used to natural unsweetened
yogurt and it was just a little too sweet for me. Rather than let it go to
waste I decided to bake with it and it made the perfect addition to this yogurt
cake!

To compensate for the sugar already in the yogurt I simply
reduced the sugar in the recipe. The sugar in question is granulated sugar
rather than my usual caster sugar. I find this gives a lovely slightly crisp
golden top to loaf cakes, more so than the finer caster sugar, but either would
work. The yoghurt was also already flavoured with speckles of natural vanilla
seeds and this lent a wonderfully sweet perfumed vanilla fragrance to the cake.
The yoghurt and oil base kept it soft and tender too, while adding a bit of
natural yoghurty tang. Delicious.

I had a squishy bag of dried figs to use up and I love
adding dark chocolate chips to anything and so into the cake they went. This turned
out to be a great combination, adding melty spots of bitter dark chocolate and
chewy sweet figs against the backdrop of perfumed vanilla cake. The seeds in
the fig added a slight crunch too, which was a nice addition every few bites.

I love cake with add-ins, it makes each bite that little bit
different. It’s a super easy and quick cake to make too, all you need is a bowl
and a spatula. No electric whisks, no creaming butter and sugar, you simply add
wet to dry, stir and bake. You can use any additions you have on hand too –
spices, nuts, fruits, chuck them all in and I’m sure you’ll still end up with a
delicious cake.

This is the kind of cake to enjoy with a cup of tea, sat on
the sofa and eaten with your fingers. No forks allowed!

Chocolate Chip, Fig & Vanilla Yoghurt Loaf Cake

Ingredients

90g buckwheat flour

50g brown rice flour

1½ tsp baking powder

70g dark chocolate chips

5 large soft dried figs

100g granulated sugar*

170g vanilla yoghurt*

80g sunflower oil

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla

* if you want to use plain, unsweetened yoghurt, add 140g
sugar

Method

Line the base of a cake loaf tin (approx 10x20cm) with a
strip of greaseproof paper. Heat oven to 180C.

Cut the figs into small chunks with a pair of scissors.
Combine the flours, baking powder, sugar, choc chips and figs together in a
bowl.

In a separate bowl, lightly mix together the yoghurt, oil,
eggs and vanilla.

Pour the wet mix over the dry mix and fold together by hand
using a spatula. A few small lumps are ok and it may look slightly split, this
is fine.

Spread into the loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until
golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning out
and leaving to cool completely.

Eat within 2 days or slice and freeze for later. Then allow
slices to defrost for 30 minutes at room temperature before enjoying.

Friday, 29 May 2015

I’ve said it plenty of time before, breakfast is my
favourite meal of the day. I’m usually pretty varied with my breakfasts, while
keeping things fairly healthy. Since moving to London my breakfasts have mostly consisted of
cereal and a piece of fruit that I can eat quickly before heading out to work.
I’ve made myself porridge twice but it’s definitely not been up to my usual
standards.

This weekend, I decided to treat myself to an extra special
breakfast – pancakes! I still need to gather a wider range of ingredients for
my baking cupboard, but did had an overripe banana and a few chocolate chips
and a bag of buckwheat flour at my disposal, so banana chocolate chip pancakes
was it was to be.

Banana is the magic ingredient here, as not only did it add
natural sweetness to the pancake mix but also replaced the egg in the batter,
adding moistness and binding properties. I also had the last remnants of a jar
of peanut butter so in that went too, along with a pinch of mixed spice which
always compliments the flavour of banana.

While the pancakes were cooking I hunted for something to
serve them with and hit a snag. I had no yoghurt, jam, sauce, syrup, nutella,
berries, or any more peanut butter with which to serve them. I could have eaten
them on their own but I like dipping or spreading my pancakes with something –
it’s part of the enjoyment of eating them. Then I saw a small glass of
chocolate mousse that I’d made earlier in the week…..ohhhh chocolate mousse on
warm pancake, that would work!

I assembled the pancakes, added a dollop of the dark
chocolate mousse and scurried away to my room to eat them in bed. Warm pancakes
with chunks of sweet banana, melty chocolate chips served with cold light and
airy dark chocolate mousse is amazing! I believe that all pancakes should be
served with chocolate mousse in future. The combination is fantastic! The light
airy mousse was rich and silky smooth while being the perfect soft and
spreadable consistency. The little bubbles dissolving in the mouth and melting
into the warm pancakes. Best thing I’ve eaten all week!

I happily devoured the lot and didn’t feel the remotest bit
guilty about eating chocolate mousse for breakfast. The pancakes themselves are
egg-less, butter-less and sugar-less so I feel justified in being a bit more
extravagant with the accompaniment. The chocolate mousse in question is also
dairy free and contains only 40g sugar in the entire recipe (serves 6 and I
only used half of 1) so it didn’t feel too sweet or dessert-like. In fact they
are probably healthier than many sugary cereals or jam slathered slices of
toast people eat for breakfast without batting an eye. Pancakes and chocolate
mousse, who’d have thought?! So so good, you’ve got to try it!

The perfect bank holiday weekend breakfast. I should also
mention It’s an essential requirement to eat them on a tray, in bed, while
still in your PJ’s.

Weigh the buckwheat flour, chocolate chips, mixed spice and
baking powder into a small mixing bowl.

Slice the banana into thin slices and reserve 5-6 slices for
serving. Roughly chop the remaining banana and add to the dry mix.

Add the peanut butter on top along with 4 tbsp milk. Mix to
form a batter. Add more milk as required until you have a thick batter that
will drop off the end of the spoon, but is not too runny.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Spoon the batter into
the pan in 4 blobs to form 4 pancakes, leaving room between each one.

Allow to cool gently for 1 minute, until bubbles start to
appear on the surface and the edges are just set. Flip each pancake over
quickly and allow to cool for a further 30-45 seconds until lightly golden and
cooked through.

Serve the pancake on the warmed plate. Top with the slices
of reserved banana and extra toppings or your choice. It’s just to have
something spreadable or dippy to eat them with – yoghurt, compote, mousse,
cream, sauce etc.

Eat and enjoy – preferably on a tray in bed for a relaxing
treat

Serves 1 – easily doubled.

*Note: Replace the milk with almond or coconut milk to make
these pancakes dairy free and vegan too! Also, make sure your baking powder and
buckwheat flour are gluten free, as some are not.

Wednesday, 20 May 2015

Last week I met my sister for dinner at Dishoom near Kings
Cross. Dishoom is a modern representation of the old traditional Iranian cafes of
Bombay. A very unique
and flavoursome style of Indian food, unlike any of the so-called ‘traditional’
Indian dishes we commonly think of in the UK. They now have a few branches in
London, with
the Kings Cross one being located in a large old warehouse which gives it a
great atmosphere and impact the minute you walk through the door. High
ceilings, exposed brick, hanging lights and multi floored dining areas.

The King Cross branch don’t take bookings and as we
discovered, it’s incredibly popular. My advice if you want to eat before 8pm is
to get there early. We arrived at around 6:15pm on a Tuesday evening and were 4th
in the queue to even be let through the door! There was a server with a
clipboard taking names and giving you an EET (Estimated Eating Time) and when
we got to the front we were told there was 1hr 20min wait for a table – you
what?!

As we dithered over whether to stay (we were both very
hungry had had been up since the small hours) we were served a complimentary
glass of hot sweet house chai tea and told we were welcome to wait in the bar
where we could get drinks and nibbles. We had both heard such glowing reviews
of the restaurant that we decided to stay (fyi it’s worth the wait!)

The bar area is downstairs/underground and poorly lit.
Rather than seeming dingy, this gave it an exciting, hushed yet relaxing feel.
I drank a couple of sweet spicy chai teas which was the perfect pick-me-up I
needed after a long day, and my sister C had a delicious watermelon cocktail.
We shared one of the two bar snacks on offer, described as crunchy banana chips
and dips. These were amazing and so addictive. We wanted to save ourselves for
the meal but couldn’t stop eating them. The banana chips were thin and crunchy
and lightly spiced with chilli. They were accompanied by a fresh onion salsa, a
wedge of lime and then 3 little dips. A spiced tomato chutney, some sort of
sweet & sour tamarind combo and a yummy fresh mint chutney. We couldn’t
decided which was our favourite, each was so different and tasty.

In the end our table was ready after only an hour wait, so
not too bad and the drinks and spicy banana chips had kept us more than
satisfied. Dishoom are also very well know for their impressive choice of
gluten free options. I should think nearly half the menu was gluten free, and
naturally gluten free rather than having to be specially adapted which was
fantastic.

We had a hard choice choosing what to try from the menu,
everything sounded delicious and so authentic. You could have everything from
Pau Bhaji - traditional warm buttery bread rolls stuffed with mashed curried
vegetables, Prawn Koliwada – prawns in tamarind and date chutney, Black Lentil
Daal – a house specialty and even Nalli Nihari with Bheja – a spicy lamb dish
complete with lambs brains (yes really!)

As C is so lovely she agreed that we choose two mains that
were gluten free so we could both have a taste of each, and then some sides. I
went for the house black daal which is one of their signature dishes. It’s
simmered for over 24 hours to allow the spices and flavours to fully develop
and blend, now that’s dedication! The black lentils give it a dark mysterious
colour and the flavour was rich, spicy and surprisingly smoky. It had a complex
multi layered range of aromatic flavours that was unique. Cardamom, cinnamon,
something smoky and then a bit of aniseed tang combined with the thick earthy lentils.
The best daal I’ve ever had and so soothing and comforting. I’d love to have a
bowl of this waiting for me after a tiring day at work. I also had a bowl of
green veg which again was deliciously flavoured with chilli and fresh lime, I’m
going to try adding this combo on my veg at home.

We also had the Mahi Tikka which was fish in a lightly
spiced yoghurt marinade before being cooked in a tandoor. This had quite a
delicate subtle flavour which didn’t overpower the fish. However, the flavours
here too were multi layered and unique, not hot and spicy, but more fragrant
and aromatic. There were some spices in our dishes I’ve never tasted before and
couldn’t identify. It really made for a delicious and special meal. As the fish
is not a saucy dish we had some raita on the side (a colossal amount) and C also
enjoyed a paper thin freshly cooked roti.

We were quite full at this point but couldn’t resist the
chance to sample some of the desserts. These too were very impressive with
everything apart the intriguing sounding pineapple black pepper crumble being
gluten free!

C chose mango Kulfi on a stick. This was the richest,
creamiest, freshest sort of ice cream you can imagine, presented in a pointy
spire for good measure (apparently this shape is traditional. Much more
exciting than the UK’s
boring cheap choc-ice blocks). You could tell it was made with real mango, it
was very fresh and fruity. The perfect tongue soother and sweet treat after a
meal. C happily devoured the lot.

I decided to be daring and go for the most unusual and
intriguing sounding desert I have ever heard of, Kala Khatta Gola Ice. Frozen ice
flakes steeped in kokum fruit syrup, with chilli, lime, white and black salt
and fresh blueberries. The waiter actually tried to dissuade me from having it
– well maybe not dissuade, but warn me. He said a lot of people don’t like it
and that it’s very unique. I said it sounded so interesting I had to try it. He
looked a little dubious and said they wouldn’t mind if I didn’t like it. As he
walked away my sister and I exchanged looks, what had I let myself in for?!

It arrived looking like a harmless tall glass of ruby purple
coloured ice chips topped with blueberries. I took my first spoonful and….my
mind exploded. Apparently my face was a picture of shock, confusion, excitement
and then delight. It was so bizarre, so unexpected, such an amazingly mind
blowing assault on my taste buds and senses that I almost felt dizzy. The first
sensation is of cold ice, then an intense sweetness and fruitiness from the
syrup before suddenly whooshing in with a strong whack of fiery chilli, causing
my tongue to tingle and burn while still being cold. Then as you swallow your
mouth is flooded with a strong, almost unpleasantly, salty taste which then rushes
back to sweet fruitiness and a lingering spice. I am not joking when I say I’ve
never experienced anything like it in my life. After getting over the shock I started
to laugh and sat there grinning. WOW!

I went back for another spoonful and it was just as multi layered
and confusing yet delightful as the first. Cold, sweet, spicy, heat, fruity,
salty, sweet, throat burning fire yet freezing cold tongue and a great rush of
emotions. The waiter came over to see what I thought and I told him it was
incredible. He seemed amazed I actually like it. I was grinning like an idiot
and said

‘I want one every day.’

He laughed and said ‘you’re a little crazy, no’

I said ‘oh yes’

To which he replied ‘well at least your self aware’….and
walked away.

I’m not sure what to make of that comment, but I’ve decided
to take it as a compliment. I enjoy being unique and different and if it means
I get to experience things such as this dessert then so much the better. I only
managed half the glass, my senses just couldn’t cope after that. I was giddy
all the way home. If you try just one dish – try this one. I don’t care if you
don’t like it – you just have to experience it!! It is truly a memory that will
stay with me for years.

Fantastic food and a fabulous evening. I can’t recommend Dishoom highly enough. The breakfasts are also meant to be legendary – I foresee
another visit on the horizon!

Note: I visited the restaurant by my own accord and choosing
after hearing good reports about them and their range of gluten free options.
We paid for our meal in full. No one invited us to come, we turned up out of
the blue like any other customer, and I decided to review it based on my own
fantastic experience. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Monday, 11 May 2015

Today is the start of Coeliac Awareness week. Every year it
makes me stop and think about my own diagnosis. I’m not exaggerating when I say
it was life changing, both for the better and worse. However, every year I like
to think it’s getting a little bit better. Along with wider knowledge and awareness
of coeliac disease, means more people are being diagnosed, increasing the
demand for gluten free food in shops, restaurants, supermarkets and even
airlines. This means more gluten free companies, a greater variety of food and
a better quality, both inn terms of taste and nutrition. There are now some
gluten free products on the market that you genuinely wouldn’t know where
gluten free. Others I feel still have some way to go and others are still
distant longing memories….but I’m sure they will be available one day J

I recently learnt that Caroline Quentin, of Men Behaving
Badly and JonathanCreek fame, has herself
been diagnosed coeliac. I read an interview she gave and I think its one of the
best, most genuine and informative stories I’ve read. If you yourself suspect
you may be coeliac or have a problem with gluten, it’s imperative to go to the
Dr for tests FIRST. Under no circumstances stop eating gluten, you need to have
been eating it in order to get an accurate result and your symptoms could do
down to something different, so don’t self diagnose.

And now for something completely different

I’ve now moved to London
after starting my new job, meaning the 4 hour daily commute is no more – yay!
I’m now living in a lovely house with 6 new flat mates. I feel quite settled in
the area already but sharing with so many people means I haven’t been able to
being all my ‘stuff.’ I’ve also had no time to do any baking yet (not to
mention lack of tins etc), it may take a few weeks, but rest assured I will be
baking again soon!

To celebrate my move to London I went out with a friend for dinner.
We chose a restaurant called Pho as it was close to work and we both love Vietnamese,
oriental flavours. This turned out to be a fantastic choice and upon arrival I
was told that apart from the steamed buns (fair enough), I could have any other
dish on the menu – most of it naturally gluten free. Wow, what choice and I was
impressed they knew exactly what I meant when I said ‘gluten free’

The restaurant was quite compact, but we got a nice table
for two and enjoyed carrot, apple and ginger juice while perusing the menu. I
liked the vast selection of chilli dressings and sauces on the table for you to
spice up your dinner if you liked.

I decided on two smaller dishes to make my main. Summer
rolls to start, which are just like spring rolls, only made with a sticky,
chewy rice wrapper rather than a crisp wheaty one. I’ve heard lots about them
but had never tried them until now. They are stuffed with veg, rice noodles,
mint and your choice of extra veg or prawns. There was a choice of chilli sauce
or spiced peanut sauce, I was dithering over the choice and the waitress kindly
bought me both. My favourite by far was the peanut one. Nutty, creamy and with
a gentle kick. Delicious.

The Summer Rolls were great. Very fresh and packed with
crunchy crisp veg and I loved the chewy rice wrapper. A little hard to eat with
chopsticks, but fun.

For the main I had a green mango salad with citrus dressing
and peanuts. Again another dish I’d never had before. You don’t eat it and
think ‘mango’ its green mango meaning it’s crunchy and shredded in strips. It
adds just a subtle fruity note, but more salad than fruit. The dressing was
amazing. At first it was very zingy and citrusy, then as I ate more I got
little hits of chilli coming through. I love that. It doesn’t look that special
on the plate, but there were hidden layers.

My dining partner went for a big bowl of Chicken Pho – an
iconic dish which is described as: “Pho [ pronounced fuh] is the
Vietnamese national dish; an aromatic, nutritious and delicious rice noodle
soup served with a side plate of fresh herbs and chilli to add as you please.
The addition of these herbs and table condiments is an essential part of eating
phở and adds another dimension to the dish - our chilli paste for a kick, fish
sauce for extra saltiness, garlic vinegar for sourness.”

She loved it and it was such a huge portion she couldn’t
quite finish it.

We were both very impressed. The whole meal came to £12 each
and they do takeaways too if you don’t have time to sit and want to grab
something on the go. They have a few locations in London and I’d be happy to visit one again. It’s
so nice to get something so fresh and tasty as a quick option. Plus, extra
bonus points for most of it being gluten friendly – hurrah!

London
Hints & Tips Please!

As I’m new to London
I’d love any hints of tips of nice (affordable) places to eat that offer some
good gluten free options. Restaurants, food markets, little cafes, hidden gems,
places for cake or lunch on the run etc. I’m open to anything including raw,
vegan, veggie, sushi (hold the meat through please). All advice welcome. The
areas I visit most are Kings Cross, Farringdon, KentishTown, Camden

Monday, 4 May 2015

Steamed sponge puddings are my ideal dessert when the nights
are chilly and drizzly or when I am simply in need of something comforting. Is
there anything more nostalgic and comforting than a steaming hot sponge topped
with sweet sticky jam and lashing of custard? It’s the food equivalent of a
hug.

Raspberry jam or golden syrup are the classic childhood
steamed sponges, but I’ve given mine a more modern twist by using Seville
orange marmalade in place of the jam, while the sponge contains dark mucovado
sugar, ginger and a little extra marmalade. This gives the sponge a deeper,
almost burnt caramel flavour with just a hint of warming ginger which goes
brilliantly with the bittersweet marmalade and prevents it being too sweet.
Dousing it with a creamy fresh vanilla bean speckled crème anglaise (custard)
really elevates this pud to a level almost deemed sophisticated, but you can of
course serve it with the instant Birds custard (just like my mum used to) if
you want full on nostalgia.

I made this gluten free
steamed marmalade sponge with crème anglaise(or custard!) for the recipe inspiration section of Wayfair. They
challenged me to create a recipe using some of their amazing selection of
cookery and bakery equipment to celebrate World Fair Trade Day on 9th
May. There are now lots of fair-trade products available in the shops and this
one makes use of fair-trade sugar and a jar of fair-trade marmalade, just
look out for the Fair Trade symbol on packs. This symbol means the farmers are
paid a fair price for their products

Next week is also the start
of Coeliac Awareness week (11th – 17th May) another event
close to my heart, so it’s a fitting recipe all round.

If marmalade is not your thing, you can replace this with
the jam of your choice, or even lemon curd, golden syrup, mincemeat or chunks
of fresh fruit. Get creative with the spices and flavours too by adding
cinnamon, cocoa powder, chocolate chips or lemon zest to make it your own.

Monday, 20 April 2015

I’m still here! I can’t believe I haven’t posted for over 3
weeks. I don’t know where the days have gone. The reason for my absence is I’ve
started a great new job in London!
Getting to grips with the new job and commuting back and forth has sort of
taken over my life lately, but I love it. Incidentally if anyone knows of a
friend with a spare room to rent in London
please email – I’m desperate to move closer. At the moment I’m spending up to 4
hours a day just commuting, which is no fun. I’ve not yet had time to explore London and all its
fabulous foodie places but I’m sure a few will start to appear in the next few
months.

Anyway, back to something tasty and more food related. These
little lemon and blueberry creamy ricotta desserts are the result of buying a
little punnet of blueberries in the reduced section and needing to do something
with them. They were a little on the squishy side and so turning them into a
compote seemed the best solution. I love the deep dark purple colour and found
this really intensified the blueberry flavour too.

I liked the idea of using the blueberry compote on top of
cheesecake, only problem was, at the time my house was a cheesecake free zone
and I didn’t have time to bake one. Instead I combined a tub of ricotta with
some cream cheese and a bit of lemon. Spooned this into glasses and topped it
with the compote to make a very light and fresh tasting cheesecake-style shot.

You could also add a biscuit base of the glasses first if
you like, but I chose instead to serve it with some little biscuits for dunking
and scooping. I made these by cutting out circles from some leftover pastry I
had from baking this meringue pie recently. What was essentially a dessert of
leftovers turned out to be very tasty treat.

The ricotta made the ‘cheesecake’ part lighter and more
softly set than if I’d used all cream cheese. This made it more spoonable and
scoopable and resulted in a nice light dessert. Sometimes cheesecake can be a
bit rich after a big meal but these were perfect.

I always like the combination of blueberry and lemon
together, it’s so fresh and summery. I purposely made these not that sweet too,
allowing the fruity blueberries and the zing from the lemon to shine through.

No Bake Lemon & Blueberry Ricotta Cheesecake Shots

Blueberry Compote

150g blueberries

Juice of ½ lemon

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp cornflour

Lemon Ricotta Base

250g ricotta cheese

150g cream cheese

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of ½ lemon

2-3 tbsp icing sugar

To Serve

Gluten free biscuits or pastry rounds

Method

Start by making the blueberry compote. Zest the lemon and
set it aside to use in the cheesecake base later.

Place the blueberries, lemon juice, water and honey into a
small pan. Heat gently until the blueberries have started to soften, pop and
release all their juices. Simmer for a few minutes until the fruit is broken
down.

Mix the cornflour in a small bowl with a few drops of water
until dissolved. Stir half of this into the blueberry mixture and simmer for 30
seconds. If it still seems a little runny, add a little more of the cornflour
mix. It will thicken on cooling so you want it to stay softly set, it should be
slightly thickened but not jam-like.

Set aside to cool.

To make the ricotta layer. Using a spatula, beat together the
ricotta and cream cheese until well combined (the ricotta will mean it won’t go
completely smooth). Add the lemon zest and icing sugar and beat to combine. Add
some of the lemon juice, mix well and taste. Add more lemon or sugar depending
on your preference. Don’t add too much lemon juice or it may go too sloppy.

Divide the mixture between 6 small pretty glasses. Place in
the fridge to firm up for at least an hour before spooning over the blueberry
compote. If you have time, chill again for another hour.

These can be made the day before. Serve with tiny spoons and
little biscuits for scooping.